The euro: an evolving project
Now 25 years old, the euro is the second most important and trusted currency in the world.
Support for the euro is very high among Europeans. With the euro changeover in Croatia in 2023, 20 EU Member States have adopted the euro as their official currency so far and other EU Member States are expected to join in the coming years.
The euro area now accounts for over 85% of the EU economy. In a competitive and fast-changing international environment, Europe can only keep its economic strength and social safety net with a strong single market and a strong currency.
Safeguarding the benefits of the euro
To ensure that the euro continues to benefit all Europeans, EU countries are making efforts to further deepen the Economic and Monetary Union.
This requires improving the way their financial markets and economies work together, to make sure that all countries implement sound fiscal policies and that economic imbalances are reduced, and to strengthen the democratic accountability and governance of its policy making.
In April 2023, the Commission proposed the most comprehensive reform of the EU’s economic governance rules since the aftermath of the 2008 economic and financial crisis.
The central objective of these proposals is to strengthen public debt sustainability while promoting sustainable and inclusive growth in all Member States through reforms and investment.
Exploring a digital euro
In June 2023 the Commission put forward a legislative proposal to set out a framework for a possible new digital form of the euro.
In parallel, in October 2023 the ECB decided to move its digital euro project to the preparation phase, which will lay the foundations for the potential issuance of a digital euro. A digital euro would be a digital form of central bank money, which is currently available to the wider public only in its physical form as banknotes and coins.
A digital euro would be a new safe, reliable and easy to use way of paying for people to choose from when buying in shops or online across the euro area. It would help strengthen the monetary sovereignty of the euro area and foster competition in the European payments sector.
Safeguarding the role of cash
A digital euro would complement cash, not replace it. The Commission has proposed legislation to safeguard access to euro banknotes and coins and the right to pay by cash across the euro area.
The ECB is preparing for a future euro banknotes series to ensure that euro banknotes remain secure, more sustainable and relatable to Europeans living in the expanding euro area. This means that, for the first time, euro banknotes will be getting a new look. Euro area citizens and experts have been invited to provide their views on how future euro banknotes will look like before the ECB's Governing Council takes a final decision on the new theme and designs.
30 November 2023. ECB selects “European culture” and “Rivers and birds” as possible themes for future euro banknotes
Your role in the future of the euro
Find out for yourself about what’s next for EU economic governance.
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